Gangneung, Korea, January 18, 2024: The fact that tropical Thailand will be represented by 20 athletes at the Winter Youth Olympic Games Gangwon 2024 is surprising many people – most of them back home in Thailand.
“Thai people are asking if we have athletes in winter sports as well and we say ‘yes, we have’,” explains Assoc. Prof. Dr. Supitr Samahito, Vice President of the National Olympic Committee of Thailand.
“We have a lot of people to thank for our presence here, starting with the national federations, the Sports Authority of Thailand for their support and also the Dream Program,” she added, referring to the initiative of Gangwon province which serves as a legacy of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in 2018.
As a result of these combined efforts, and the determination of the young athletes, Thailand will be represented in a wide range of sports on snow and ice during the Winter YOG from January 19 to February 1.
These include biathlon, cross-country skiing, bobsleigh, luge, freestyle skiing, skeleton, short track speed skating and Alpine skiing.
“At the last Winter Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne in 2020, we had five athletes. After that, the national associations tried to recruit students in every kind of sport,” added Dr. Supitr.
“We found that our young athletes had good skills in winter sports, and we were able to send some of them to Italy and to Korea for training. They were also able to enter competitions in European countries.”
Many of the Thai athletes hail from the north-east of the country, and will certainly bring an exotic SEA flavour to the Winter YOG as they compete alongside the established winter sports powers from northern Europe, North America and east Asia.
Their strong presence here is testament to the efforts of the Thai sports authorities and the ambitions of the fearless young winter sports athletes more used to sea and sunshine rather than snow and ice.